BREAKING PRIDE FM NEWS

The pioneering Queer Up North arts festival, which ran in Manchester for twenty years, is being celebrated again this year. It originally ran in the city’s venues, clubs and streets from 1990 to 2010, showcasing LGBTQ+ history and culture. Now, thanks to support from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Manchester Histories and the Granada Foundation, Queer Up North will be brought to a new generation from August and will run until the end of October. The event - running across several venues - will feature live performances, panel discussions, exhibitions and archive material.

London Trans+ Pride has broken its own record, with an estimated hundred and fifty thousand people taking to the streets of the capital on Saturday under the theme Our Future, Our Fight. The march ended at Trafalgar Square for the first time in the event’s eight-year history — a fifty percent increase on last year’s turnout, making it the largest trans rights protest ever held anywhere in the world. Speakers called on Prime Minister Andy Burnham to listen and act, with author Juno Dawson urging that trans people urgently need access to timely healthcare, legal recognition, and the freedom to live openly without fear.

One person’s died and at least 16 have been injured after a vehicle was driven into a crowd at Berlin Pride in Tiergarten park. The incident happened on Saturday and forced organisers to curtail the annual event known as the Christopher Street Parade, commemorating New York’s Stonewall riots. The suspect - who was known to the German authorities - was shot and killed by police on Sunday after an intensive manhunt. They say officers shot him after he rushed at them with a knife-like weapon. He was a 21-year-old German citizen of Lebanese heritage. The mayor of Berlin, Kai Wegner, called the incident an attack on Germany’s free and fair minded society.

Russell T Davies has spoken in detail for the first time about filming the devastating final scene of Tip Toe, in which the character Leo — played by Alan Cumming — is lynched by a mob. Davies told the Independent the sequence took three days to film and required elaborate precautions, including erecting huge screens along a major A road and stopping filming every afternoon when a nearby school broke up. He said that when the crew first hoisted a dummy in the air, absolute silence fell over the entire street as the enormity of it hit everyone. Alan Cumming, he added, was absolutely delighted when it was over. Channel 4’s compliance department had serious concerns about broadcasting the scene, though Davies said he was careful not to linger on it in a way that would be torturous.

Barnsley Community Alliance, the social media network that supports the town’s Pride and other events, says it’s taking robust action against online homophobic abuse. It says it’s already banned nearly 40 users for what it describes as ‘disgusting and homophobic comments’ and is now looking to see which ones should be referred to South Yorkshire Police.
Barnsley Pride took place on Saturday, July the 25th in the town’s Mandela Gardens and Barnsley Community Alliance is the latest organisation to pledge a fight back against increasing online homophobia.

A major new Dutch medical review has strongly endorsed gender-affirming care for transgender young people, directly challenging the direction taken by the UK’s Cass Review. The report, commissioned by the Netherlands’ health authorities, concluded that withholding such care causes serious harm and described the need to provide it as morally urgent. It found that puberty blockers and hormone therapy, when properly supervised, significantly improve the mental health and wellbeing of trans youth. The findings have been welcomed by LGBTQ+ organisations in the UK who argue that access to care here has been severely curtailed in recent years.

The organisers of Durham Pride have hit out at continuing homophobic abuse on its Facebook page. The event took place in May after trades unions and the public stepped in to plug the fundraising gap left by Reform-led Durham council withdrawing its annual grant and other support. But the organisation says vile abuse on social media is continuing. Defending its decision to block abusers, Durham Pride says its Facebook page isn’t a free-for-all for haters and it wants to be positive and uplifting, particularly as a lot of young LGBT+ people in Durham are finding their way.

This year’s Bingley Pride in West Yorkshire - due to take place on Saturday, September the 12th - has been cancelled. The organisers say this is because of unforeseen difficulties, but they’ve promised to return in July next year after planning several months of fund-raising. Last year’s Pride was the first one held in the town.

Poland's President Karol Nawrocki has vetoed a bill that would have given unmarried couples, including same-sex couples, a limited set of legal rights — blocking what would have been the country's first ever legal recognition of same-sex relationships. The bill, which had been backed by Prime Minister Donald Tusk's coalition and passed by both houses of parliament, fell short of introducing full civil partnerships but would have granted couples rights including joint property ownership and access to medical information. Nawrocki argued it would create civil partnerships through the back door. Despite the veto, polling shows sixty-two percent of Poles now support legal recognition for same-sex couples.

FIFA's own anti-discrimination partner has urged the governing body not to follow the International Olympic Committee's lead and introduce a blanket ban on transgender athletes for the 2031 Women's World Cup. The head of the Fare network, Piara Powar, warned that such a ban would stigmatise trans athletes and women with intersex characteristics, and called on FIFA not to embed any exclusion permanently into its regulations. The warning comes after the White House reportedly pressed FIFA to guarantee that only biological women compete in the Women's World Cup.

A new YouGov study has found that the proportion of British people who think it is acceptable to make jokes about gay people has risen to its highest level since records began in 2019, with thirty percent now saying gay jokes are acceptable regardless of whether or not you identify as gay yourself. The number saying such jokes are unacceptable has fallen to its lowest recorded level. The findings add to a broader picture of rising homophobia in the UK, with schools also reporting a sharp increase in suspensions for homophobic and transphobic abuse.

A new photobook documenting the experience of queer Ukrainians during the war with Russia has been published, featuring portraits and profiles gathered by American journalist J Lester Feder. The Queer Face of War, which was displayed in the official programme of this year's Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna, explores how Ukraine's LGBTQ+ community has not only faced specific dangers under Russian occupation but has actively embraced civic participation and military service as part of the country's democratic resistance. Feder warns that Russia's anti-LGBTQ+ propaganda laws — dramatically tightened since 2022 — have transformed what was once a tool of harassment into a genuine threat of persecution for queer people living there.

Queer comedian Linus Karp is bringing a new show to the Edinburgh Fringe this August based on his own experience of being attacked in a homophobic assault in London's Soho in 2024. The show, called Linus Karp Was Hit With an Umbrella, recounts how his husband tackled the attacker and held him until police arrived, as well as the investigation and emotional aftermath that followed. Karp says that while the show deals with serious themes, it still has plenty of room for ridiculous comedy — and that queer visibility in public spaces remains more important than ever.

GB News has received more than nine thousand Ofcom complaints following comments made by a guest on the show Alex Armstrong Tonight, in which Catholic journalist Caroline Farrow falsely linked Pride events with paedophilia. Host Alex Armstrong, who is openly gay, later used his programme to say he fundamentally rejects the claim, describing it as an age-old homophobic trope used to demonise queer people. GB News said the comments were the guest's own views and did not reflect the channel's editorial position. Two other GB News programmes have also received significant numbers of Ofcom complaints in recent weeks over anti-LGBTQ+ comments made by guests.

WorldPride is coming to Amsterdam this summer, with an impressive line-up of performers already confirmed. Billy Porter, Beth Ditto and Olly Alexander are among those set to take to the stage as the Dutch capital hosts the world's biggest LGBTQ+ celebration. The event runs across several days in August, combining a canal parade, outdoor concerts and community events across the city.

LGBTQ+ people in Indonesia are facing an escalating threat following a presidential regulation that classified queer culture as a national security threat alongside terrorism and drug abuse. Human Rights Watch says harassment and physical attacks on LGBTQ+ university students surged during Pride Month, with at least ten public universities adopting discriminatory regulations. An LGBTQ+ advocacy group reported that at least fifteen trans women were attacked by an anti-LGBTQ+ group in the city of Bogor — beaten, chased and subjected to degrading abuse. Human Rights Watch said Indonesian authorities are looking the other way during the upsurge of violence.

The leader of Essex County Council has said some books featured in Pride Month library displays could be upsetting for parents. Peter Harris, whose Reform UK administration took control of the authority in May, told the BBC the council's libraries should represent all residents rather than things that might be deemed ideological. When asked which specific books or displays he found inappropriate, he was unable to identify any. Several Essex libraries continued to put up Pride displays despite earlier guidance telling staff not to promote themed events. A protest is planned outside County Hall ahead of a full council meeting at which thousands of residents' signatures will be presented.

East London queer football club Goal Diggers FC is hosting a weekend of events to coincide with London Trans+ Pride later this month. Running from the twenty-fourth to the twenty-sixth of July, the programme includes a club night at Hackney Bridge, a march with the football bloc at Trans+ Pride, and a community football tournament in Islington open to women and non-binary players. All events will operate under a zero-tolerance policy on discrimination of any kind.

LGBTQ+ representation in mainstream Hollywood films has fallen for the third year in a row, according to the latest annual report from the media watchdog GLAAD. Of the 225 films tracked from the industry's ten largest distributors, fewer than one in five featured any LGBTQ+ characters — down more than eight percent from a 2023 high. Most strikingly, the report found zero transgender characters across all 225 films, and not a single LGBTQ+ character in any animated or family film. GLAAD's chief executive said studios risk losing a generation of younger viewers who will simply go elsewhere to find entertainment that includes their community.

The co-owners of New York's Stonewall Inn have accused JK Rowling of damaging LGBTQ+ people worldwide through her platform. Stacy Lentz and Kurt Kelly, who brought a replica of the historic bar to London Pride last weekend, said Rowling's influence extends far beyond the UK and that they now have to go back and educate people as a result. They also warned of a growing threat to gay marriage and same-sex adoption rights, saying the community cannot afford to take hard-won protections for granted.

There's been an unexpected change of cast in the West End production of Oh, Mary!. Catherine Tate has left the show for personal reasons, with non-binary actor Mason Alexander Park stepping back in to play Mary Todd Lincoln until the eighteenth of July. Creator and Tony Award winner Cole Escola will then take over the role from the twentieth of July until the production closes in August.

To mark Disability Pride Month, a new study by the Belonging Forum has found that nearly half of disabled LGBTQ+ people in the UK experience frequent loneliness — significantly higher than among disabled people overall. The research, which surveyed more than ten thousand adults, also found that four in ten disabled LGBTQ+ people do not feel they belong in their communities. The Belonging Forum's founder Kim Samuel called for workplaces, communities and public institutions to put belonging at the heart of everything they design.

Russell T Davies has warned that LGBTQ+ people are facing new threats, speaking at the Attitude Pride Awards. The writer of Queer as Folk, It's a Sin and Tip Toe said the direction of gay, queer and especially trans rights had shaped his latest work, and argued its themes were far from niche. He also revealed he is already writing his next project, saying there is always a lot to say and that if he can write this stuff forever, then he will.

A teacher has been banned from the profession after making discriminatory remarks to a Year 11 class, including stating that gay and transgender people are mentally ill. William Garwood, 60, was teaching at a Catholic school in West Yorkshire when the comments were made in 2023. The Teaching Regulation Agency found the remarks were clearly inappropriate and significantly outside the bounds of acceptable teaching practice, and said they were especially problematic given their potential impact on school-aged children. Garwood cannot apply to have the banning order lifted until 2032.

Russia has censored a rainbow from an episode of SpongeBob SquarePants under its laws banning so-called LGBTQ+ propaganda. In the famous scene — which has been a viral meme for years — SpongeBob uses his hands to paint a rainbow over his head while talking about the power of imagination. In the Russian version, the rainbow has been replaced with a plain yellow arc. The change is thought to be connected to President Putin's propaganda laws, which were first introduced in 2013 and expanded in 2022 to ban any content deemed to promote homosexuality across all ages. There has long been speculation about SpongeBob's sexuality, which may have further fuelled the decision to censor the moment.

Halifax-based Calderdale council is removing dozens of rainbow banners put up in the area through an £8,500 crowdfunding initiative.The Reform-led council says it’s removing the banners because they were placed on council property without approval. But the Labour Party in Calderdale says the banners were put up by a commercial company that has a contract with the council, and claims the move is politically motivated.

Egypt has followed Turkey in turning away an LGBTQ+ cruise ship. The Scarlet Lady, with 2,000 passengers on board, was first turned away from Turkey with authorities there saying the cruise had been chartered by groups known for behaviour that doesn’t align with the country’s society and moral values. Now the Egyptian government has followed l suit, without giving a reason for its decision. Cruise organisers are now looking for alternative ports. The Scarlet Lady is part-way through a 10-day Athens to Venice trip around the Mediterranean.

A summer-long experiment to provide more seating outside venues in Manchester’s Gay Village is now underway. The city council says it wants to help businesses away from the main Canal Street thoroughfare and has given the go-ahead for outside seating at bars in Bloom Street and Richmond Street. Venues such as The Lodge, The Goose and New York, New York have already set up chairs and tables outdoors - perfectly timed to take advantage of the present heatwave! The council’s monitoring the move, which, it’s hoped,will become a permanent feature.

Two more Pride events are joining the calendar this summer. In Devon, Okehampton Pride returns to Simmons Park on the eighteenth of July for its second year, with music, drag acts, thirty market stalls, sports activities, a dog show and a conga line around the park. Co-founder Daniel Burgess says visibility is key — describing Okehampton as an LGBTQ+ black spot and stressing how important it is for people to know they can be themselves. Meanwhile, the Isle of Cumbrae in Scotland is set to host its very first Pride festival on the twelfth of September, with organisers planning a seafront parade and community stalls in Millport. The event was inspired by neighbouring Arran Pride and aims to lay strong foundations for years to come.

Dannii Minogue has paid an emotional tribute to BBC Three's I Kissed a Girl as its final season comes to a close. The broadcaster has cancelled the groundbreaking queer dating show — Britain's first gay reality dating series — citing funding challenges. Minogue said she was riding waves of emotion, adding that queer joy being seen on screen is a defiant act. She admitted the team had hoped the show would open a doorway for more LGBTQ+ representation in the reality space — but says that hasn't happened in the way they expected.

Olympic swimming champion Mark Foster has revealed he lived a double life for years, hiding the fact that he is gay. In a new autobiography, Foster describes the pressure he felt to conform during his competitive career and the exhausting effort involved in keeping his sexuality secret. He says he hopes by speaking openly now he can help younger athletes feel they do not have to make the same choices he did.

Keighley Cougars, the Yorkshire rugby league club, have spoken exclusively to Attitude magazine about how they responded to a wave of homophobic abuse after becoming one of the UK's most openly LGBTQ+ inclusive sporting organisations. Co-owners Ryan O'Neill and Kaue Garcia say they received a torrent of hate following their decision to fly the rainbow flag and champion queer inclusion — but say the overwhelming response from fans, players and the wider community made it clear they were doing the right thing. The club, which this week received a Peugeot Attitude Pride Award, says they will not let hate win.

Attitude magazine has revealed the winners of its 2026 PEUGEOT Attitude Pride Awards Europe. This year's Pride Icons are rock band Placebo, whose anthem Nancy Boy has become an enduring symbol of LGBTQ+ self-expression, and singer-songwriter Cat Burns, celebrated for her openness about queer identity, autism and ADHD. Other honourees include ABC News journalist James Longman, Miss England trailblazer Grace Richardson, poet and BAFTA winner Dean Atta, YouTube creator Jessica Kellgren-Fozard, and Keighley Cougars owners Ryan O'Neill and Kaue Garcia, who have transformed the rugby league club into one of the UK's most proudly inclusive sporting organisations.

Leicester Pride is gearing up for its biggest year yet, with organisers expecting more than twenty thousand people to attend the free festival at Abbey Park on the fifth of September. Chair Martyn Parker described the season of Prides across the Midlands as becoming a powerhouse in the UK calendar, saying the event exists to show that everyone deserves to feel seen, valued and accepted. Leicester has established itself as the largest free one-day Pride festival in the Midlands, with a full programme of live music, entertainment and a city-centre parade.

A rainbow plaque has been unveiled in honour of the late gay icon Paul O'Grady outside his former home in Vauxhall, south London, where he lived between 1985 and 1995. His widower André Portasio said Victoria Mansions was more than just a home — it was where O'Grady found his voice as Lily Savage, formed friendships that lasted a lifetime, and became part of a community he would champion and fight for throughout his life. Among those gathered for the unveiling were drag queen Danny Beard, activist Peter Tatchell and Frankie Goes to Hollywood frontman Holly Johnson.

Leeds Hunters, the northern queer-inclusive-rugby-club, have put in a bid to host the Bingham Cup in twenty-twenty-eight. The Bingham Cup is the world’s largest amateur queer rugby tournament, expected to attract up to four thousand players from across the globe. Named after Mark Bingham — a gay American rugby player who died in the September the 11th attacks — the tournament has been held every two years since two-thousand-and-two. Leeds Hunters say their priority is ensuring every player can take part with confidence and a genuine sense of belonging, and the club has been explicit in its support for trans inclusion.

The former lead singer of the Village People, Victor Willis, has died at the age of 74. Willis, who performed as a policeman or naval officer, sang with the group for their hits YMCA, Go West and In the navy, before leaving in 1980. His later years were marked by substance abuse, before he announced in 2007 he was finally free from drug use.

West Midlands Police has issued a public apology for what its acting Chief Constable Scott Green called the historic mistreatment of LGBTQ+ communities across the region. In an open letter, Green acknowledged that laws were wrongly used to target gay and bisexual men, ruining lives and leaving people afraid to be open about who they were or who they loved. He said he has been deeply saddened by the trauma experienced by members of the community as a consequence of policing, and pledged to build a more positive and trusting relationship with LGBTQ+ people across the West Midlands going forward.

Canada has confirmed it will compete in next year’s Eurovision Song Contest in Bulgaria.
The country became eligible after joining the European Broadcasting Union, which supervises the competition, and will be the first new participants since Australia joined in 2015. Eurovision says Canada’s decision is a further sign that the song contest welcomes the world.

Veteran campaigner Peter Tatchell has accused FIFA of failing to check whether World Cup teams from countries that criminalise homosexuality would ever select an openly gay player. Tatchell was in Seattle where he called on football's governing body to enforce its own anti-discrimination rules. FIFA wrote back saying player selection is a matter for individual associations, a response Tatchell described as a shocking failure of governance. FIFA did confirm that rainbow flags are permitted at all World Cup matches.

A new stage musical based on the hit 2014 film Pride has opened at the Dorfman Theatre in London. The show reunites the film's screenwriter Stephen Beresford with director Matthew Warchus, telling the true story of how a group of LGBTQ+ activists in the 1980s began fundraising for a south Wales mining community during the miners' strikes — an unlikely alliance that blossomed into an enduring friendship between two very different communities. The Guardian describes it as a magnificent new musical in the same feelgood tradition as Billy Elliot and The Full Monty.

A new collection of global academic research finds that discrimination against LGBTQ+ people remains widespread across many parts of the world. Studies spanning Spain, China, Indonesia, India and Latin America point to ongoing challenges in schools, workplaces and wider society — including evidence that gay men face invisibility and violence in Indonesian cinema, that LGBTQ+ youth in Spain feel let down by teachers, and that inclusive workplace policies and positive media representation make a meaningful difference to how gay colleagues are treated.

The government has published its draft Conversion Practices Bill, which would ban abusive attempts to change someone's sexual orientation or gender identity in England and Wales. People found guilty could face an unlimited fine and up to five years in prison. Stonewall's chief executive Simon Blake called it a historic and long overdue step forward, saying LGBTQ+ people are not broken or in need of fixing. It has been eight years since Theresa May first vowed to introduce such legislation, with progress repeatedly delayed by political dispute and U-turns under successive prime ministers. The bill includes safeguards to protect legitimate healthcare, therapy, open conversations and free speech.

Japan is on the verge of introducing a nationwide LGBTQ+ education programme, designed to improve public understanding of gender and sexual diversity. The plan has been approved by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and is expected to be signed off by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's cabinet — despite the new PM's opposition to same-sex marriage. The programme would require schools to provide students with information about LGBTQ+ issues and give access to counsellors, and would also see universities add training on sexual diversity for future healthcare workers. Japan remains the only G7 nation yet to legalise same-sex marriage.

Romeo Beckham is set to make his acting debut in a gay tennis romance called Forty Love. The film, directed by fashion photographer Pierre-Ange Carlotti in his feature debut, sees Beckham play a charismatic rival to a French tennis star whose arrival unsettles everything the lead character thinks he knows about competition, ambition — and himself. The cast also includes Catherine Deneuve, and the film is due for release in France in November. Romeo will be following in his mother Victoria's cinematic footsteps — yes, we mean Spice World.

LGBTQ+ people in the United States are leaving the country in record numbers, according to a new report from Rainbow Railroad, the international LGBTQ+ asylum assistance organisation. The group received over twenty thousand requests for help relocating last year — a fifty-one percent increase on the previous year and the highest figure since it was founded in 2006. Strikingly, nearly a third of those requests came from American citizens fleeing the current administration's anti-LGBTQ+ policies, compared to just thirteen percent the year before. At the same time, fewer queer refugees from other countries are seeking asylum in the US, after the Trump administration effectively shut down the federal refugee admissions programme earlier this year.

A piece of LGBTQ+ history is making its first ever trip outside the United States this summer. A fragment of the original rainbow Pride flag — designed by artist and activist Gilbert Baker and first raised in San Francisco in 1978 — is travelling to Cork in Ireland, where it will go on display at the Cork Public Museum for four months. The loan has been agreed between San Francisco's GLBT Historical Society and the city of Cork, and will coincide with the opening of the museum's first permanent LGBTQ+ exhibition. The museum's curator says the flag's arrival sends a strong message that the museum is a place for everyone.

Toy Story 5 is in cinemas, and some viewers have been wondering whether the film contains an LGBTQ+ wedding. The opening scene features a marriage between the loveable plastic utensil Forky and a new character called Karen Beverly — a DIY toy made from a knife. One critic argued the couple constitute a queer pairing because they are described as husband and knife rather than husband and wife. Most viewers and reviewers, however, have concluded it is simply a very good pun from the writers — though PinkNews notes that if you want to read it as an LGBTQ+ wedding, absolutely go for it.

Liverpool's council leader has pledged to cherish the city's Pride Quarter after concerns were raised that it's disappearing before our eyes. Podcast host John Hyland raised the alarm warning that multiple queer venues in the Stanley Street area have closed in recent years. Council leader Liam Robinson responded warmly, saying the city knows how important its gay quarter is and vowing to raise Liverpool's voice even louder at a time when queer rights are being challenged elsewhere. His comments came with a pointed reference to neighbouring Saint --Helens, whose Reform-led council recently announced it will no longer support or promote Pride.

PinkNews is marking Pride Month with a handy explainer on what the plus in LGBTQ+ actually stands for — after a clip went viral of a comedian admitting she thought it meant plus size. In fact, the plus covers all sexual and gender identities not captured by the letters themselves, including pansexual, asexual, intersex and genderfluid people. The acronym has evolved significantly since the term LGBT first came into common use in the late nineteen-eighties, and debate continues about the best way to be truly inclusive.